Vitalik Buterin has published an updated long-term roadmap for Ethereum, calling the multi-year effort “Lean Ethereum” the largest redesign of the network since the merger. He published it on X on July 4, 2026, days after Ethereum researchers met in Berlin to work on the protocol’s long-term path.
Buterin’s post is important for those building on top of Ethereum, which consists of developers, the layer-two networks that stabilize it, and ETH holders who monitor how well the blockchain continues to run without breaking what’s already running on top of it.
The Ethereum co-founder says that every core component will be rebuilt, but slowly, over the next three to four years.
according to Share ButerinThe revised plan now lives in Ethereum’s public straw map.
Ethereum will undergo a phased rebuilding process
Buterin stated that his most important takeaway from the event is that “Lean Ethereum” is not a single upgrade.
He added that it is “a set of improvements that will be brought online to the Ethereum network over the course of three or four years.”
However, he also noted that this will be the third major iteration for Ethereum, compared to the merge, which is the second major iteration when the network moved from a Proof of Work (PoW) consensus mechanism to a Proof of Stake (PoS) system.
“Almost every major part of the protocol will be replaced,” Buterin wrote.
The technical scope is broad, as the roadmap proposes replacing direct transaction re-execution with STARK-based recursive verification. Buterin also noted that they are replacing everything that is quantum vulnerable with quantum safe alternatives, adding that this is a major priority.
He also added that they will reformulate the consensus towards a one- or two-round finality, introduce multidimensional gas pricing, move to new state structures, and make changes to the customer structure.
Buterin stated that the changes can be made in a way that minimizes disruption to the existing application, pointing to the merger as evidence that Ethereum can implement significant upgrades. “We’ve done this before (the merger), we can do it again,” the co-founder stated.
What is the Ethereum Foundation doing regarding privacy and quantum defense?
Buterin said future protocol design will treat privacy as an integral part of it. “Privacy is no longer an afterthought; it is a first-order goal,” he wrote.
He added that developers are now asking questions about how to support secure, intermediary-free privacy without incurring high costs when designing new components such as frames, memory pools, and additions to the state tree.
Quantum resistance has also made it to the list. Buterin said work on quantum safe bubble designs has already been underway for several months.
Model country built for 2030
The most far-reaching idea concerns how Ethereum stores data. Buterin stated that “there is a growing consensus about leaving the current-style ‘dynamic state’ mostly unchanged, with its scope expanded only a moderate amount.”
He added that the consensus also supports adding new types of states that are easier to scale widely, but are also relatively more restrictive.
Buterin gave an example suggesting that in 2030 Ethereum could retain about 2TB of current (dynamic) state along with 100TB of a newer, more scalable design suitable for ERC-20 tokens, NFTs, and many DeFi uses, while decentralized exchanges and cross-chain order books remain on the current model.
Migration would be voluntary but financially attractive rather than mandatory.
Buterin also moved beyond the Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM) entirely, toward an execution environment like RISC-V or LeanISA, where the EVM ultimately acts as a compiler target rather than the engine itself.
Is Ethereum trying to build a leaner protocol while shrinking the size of its foundation?
The roadmap lands during a turbulent period Ethereum Institutions. Buterin stated in a post in June that the Ethereum Foundation would reduce its budget by about 40% this year. It shed 54 jobs, nearly 20% of staff, on June 22. Many late researchers They regrouped at Ethlabs, a new nonprofit that says it can fund operations for two to three years.
the Ethereum market It has also taken a hit recently, although it’s not just it, with money reportedly moving from cryptocurrencies into AI investments. Ethereum Currently trading About $1,760, down more than 64% from its August 2025 high of $4,953.73.
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